Prince Andrew returns to UK from golf holiday to hold crisis talks over Jeffrey Epstein scandal
PRINCE Andrew has flown home from a golf holiday for crisis talks with royal advisers.
They will discuss how to deal with continued scrutiny over his relationship with late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Roberts.
His former wife and current companion Sarah Ferguson was also on the private jet flight from Spain as she continues to stand by the Duke of York.
The couple feared that staying on holiday in the light of daily revelations relating to the prince’s relationship with Epstein was becoming a bad look.
A royal source revealed: “Andrew and Fergie flew back together on Wednesday. He knows he has to come back and face the music.
“The optics were not a good look, with so many stories about the Epstein accusers while he was on a sunny golf course in Spain. He’s having a series of talks with advisers this week about how to salvage his reputation going forward.
Who is Virginia Roberts?
- Mum-of-three Virginia Roberts , now Virginia Giuffre, 36, has alleged that she was procured Ghislaine Maxwell - Epstein’s ex-lover - to work as a 'sex slave'
- Ms Roberts alleges she met Ms Maxwell while working at Donald Trump's Mar-aLago resprt in Florida.
- Legal documents from a 2015 defamation case - released the day before Epstein killed himself - featured claims that Prince Andrew slept with Ms Roberts three times.
- The Duke of York strongly denies the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him.
- Giuffre says her account is '99 per cent true' but her own former lawyers have described it as 'fictionalised.'
- She claims she first met royal dad-of-two Prince Andrew on a trip to London in 2001 when she was 17 and Epstein and Maxwell were also there.
“Fergie remains entirely committed to him and is proud to stand by her man at one of his darkest hours.”
Andrew and Fergie spent two weeks at a luxury retreat in the Spanish hideaway of Sotogrande, where they have previously holidayed.
She decided to take him away because he was starting to “s*** himself” over the focus on his long-term friendship with Epstein, even after he was first jailed in 2008 for procuring an underage girl for prostitution.
Yesterday we told how the Duke’s pals are now trying to claim that a photo of him with Roberts – who says she was forced to sleep with the royal as a teenager – is fake because his hands are chubbier.
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She also alleged she slept with Andrew, 59, in New York and the Caribbean after being kept as a 'sex slave' by paedophile Epstein.
This week she said said the duke knew “exactly what he has done” and urged him to “come clean”.
The Duke has denied any wrongdoing with Roberts and anyone else. Epstein killed himself in jail aged 66 earlier this month.
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